


Puzzle Pieces

by katesofheaven



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brief Violence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Humor, POV Third Person, Present Tense, Romance, Teen Romance, academic decathlon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-18 23:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22168060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katesofheaven/pseuds/katesofheaven
Summary: Michelle comes up with a new nickname for Peter and slowly starts to realize how accurate it is.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 196





	Puzzle Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm in the process of putting my fics on here (they were originally on tumblr). This fic is originally from 2017, after Homecoming came out. Enjoy!

“I’m not obsessed with him, I’m just very observant.”

Michelle notices things.

Like his face during calculus. It used to light up with interest at the numbers and variables being written on the board, but for a while now, the word ‘boredom’ might as well be written on his forehead. All he does is stare at his phone and sometimes she finds herself glancing at the screen; she sits behind him. He’s basically inviting her. Most of the time he’s checking his texts, scrolling through an endless, one-sided conversation with someone named ‘Happy’ (definitely a fake name, very suspect), but sometimes he’s just watching Youtube videos of Spider-Man.

He’s quit every extracurricular activity except the Academic Decathlon team, a fact which Michelle attributes to her exceptional president-ing abilities, but even during those practices she notices him jiggling his leg impatiently and checking the time on his phone, then shooting out of his chair and almost sprinting out of the library right when the minute hand on the clock reaches 4:30. Sometimes she calls him out for it and he looks completely petrified, staring at her as though she’s going to yell out his deepest darkest secret, before she inevitably retreats under a mask of apathy, leaving him to go… wherever he goes all the time. The Stark Internship, she supposes.

What does that internship even entail? It’s not like Peter is qualified to do actual lab work for Stark Industries. There’s no way he’s Thor’s fitness trainer, right? What would Tony Stark need him to do? And why is he always so damn excited to do it? How did he meet Spider-Man? _What the hell kind of intern gets to meet Spider-Man._

“Peter!” she yells down the hall, and he whips around, backpack swinging on his shoulders.

“H-Hey, Michelle, wh—um, what’s up?” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Are you skipping decathlon practice?”

He glances at the door behind him and looks back at her. “No, why would—well, yeah, I have the Stark internship today.”

She narrows her eyes and he widens his in response. “The team is going to meet at my place tonight to watch _The Force Awakens._ For team bonding.” He looks at her blankly. “For the competition tomorrow?” His mouth falls open and she rolls her eyes. “You forgot.”

He starts to sputter. “Well, I—it’s just, I have the—”

“You have the Stark internship.” He looks at the floor and nods. “You know what, Peter?” He glances back up at her. “You’re off the team. Have fun hanging out with the fucking Avengers.”

His eyes widen for a moment and he gives her that terrified look again, like she’s just discovered his deepest darkest secret, before shaking his head vigorously. “I don’t—I’ve never met the Avengers,” he rushes, but she cuts him off.

“I don’t care what you do with your time. You could be _Spider-Man_ and I would not give a _shit._ But stop wasting my—and everyone else’s—time. You don’t care about it, so why should I keep you on the team?” He opens his mouth to answer but she cuts him off again. “That was a rhetorical question. You’re done.”

She storms off toward the library, leaving him staring after her, heart thudding in his chest.

~

Everyone is crammed onto the sofa, illuminated by the glow of the television, a giant bucket of popcorn being passed between them. Ned is sitting on the floor with his hand resting on his laptop, which he insisted on bringing for some unknown reason, and Flash is throwing Sour Patch Kids at Abe, who doesn’t even notice with his eyes so glued to the screen.

“Get them, Poe!” Abe shouts as Poe Dameron and Finn escape together in the TIE fighter. The whole team is yelling at the TV—all except Ned, whose phone starts to ring, and then the team is yelling at him for bad movie etiquette.

He stands up, laptop tucked under his arm, holding his phone to his ear. “Peter, hey,” he says as he rushes to the bathroom and shuts the door immediately. Michelle stares after him with narrowed eyes, but turns her attention back to the TV. She doesn’t care.

“Flash, if you get sugar on my mom’s couch, I’ll murder you.”

~

Peter is coming towards her. Why is Peter coming towards her? He looks guilty. Oh, god.

She shuts her locker and turns on her heel to walk in the other direction but he quickly catches up to her.

“Michelle, can I, um, talk to you for a sec?”

She glances at him, maintaining a quick pace. “Not really in the mood, Spider-Man.” He freezes and stares at her, eyes searching and cheeks red, and she looks back blankly. “What do you want?”

He blinks. “I just wanted to say, um, that I—I’m sorry for, y’know, disappointing you.”

She shrugs curtly. “I don’t care, Peter. Do what you want.” She stops to think for a second and turns to face him squarely. “Where were you on Friday?”

He opens and closes his mouth a few times before muttering, “The Stark internship.”

“You were on the phone with Ned for an hour. He commandeered my bathroom for like, half the movie.”

“Oh. Um,” he trails off, looking around the busy hallway for inspiration. “I just needed his help with something.”

“Right.” She rolls her eyes. “See ya later, Spidey.”

~

The voice of a news reporter drifts through Michelle’s open bedroom door as she spreads out all of her textbooks on her bed and begins her huge load of homework.

_“…car chase stopped by the Spider-Man on 164th Street. Police are telling us no one was hurt, and although the masked neighborhood hero allegedly stopped the speeding automobile with his hands, witnesses say he swung away before the police cars had come to a full stop.”_

“That had to hurt,” Michelle mutters to herself, before opening her textbook and starting on her history essay.

~

“Hi. I’m Captain America, and I’d like to personally congratulate you on completing phase one of the Captain America Fitness Challenge. Fitness is an important part of everyday life, and believe me, it doesn’t hurt when you’re defending Earth against aliens, either.”

“Hey, Parker! Penis Parker!” Flash leans over during the video and calls to Peter in a whisper. Peter stares straight ahead. “Hey, Parker, are you friends with him, too? How does Cap like his coffee?”

Peter shakes his head, annoyed, and pretends to be paying attention to the small television in front of the bleachers. Ned leans over him and glares at Flash.

“Good luck on the next leg of your fitness adventure,” Captain America says, and looks theatrically to his left. “Instructor, please stop the video.” Coach Wilson presses the stop button and has them all pair up for pushups, and, as always, Michelle is on her own. She walks up to a mat and sits cross-legged with a book in her lap as the other students try to do as many pushups as they can.

A row over, Ned is on the ground and Peter is counting for him, giving words of encouragement as Ned goes up and down. After he’s done the most he can do, it’s time for them to switch, but Peter looks hesitant. He keeps rubbing his wrists and when Ned asks him what’s wrong, Michelle hears him whisper about the Stark internship. Why would the Stark internship hurt his wrists?

Nevertheless, Peter goes down to the floor and starts his pushups, but he keeps readjusting his hands and taking breaks. Flash strides over while Peter is sitting on the mat, massaging his arms, and laughs.

“What’s wrong, Parker?” he whines. “I knew you were a pussy, but you can’t even do one pushup? Coach Wilson,” he calls, turning to their teacher, “I think Parker might need to take remedial gym.”

Peter’s face is turning red and he glances over at Michelle, who quickly turns her eyes back to her book.

“Just… Just leave me alone, Flash,” Peter says quietly, staring at his clenched fists.

Flash laughs harder. “Or what, Penis? You’re gonna _intern_ me to death? How did you even hurt your hands?”

Peter’s jaw clenches. “I fell.”

Michelle cocks her head. Why would Peter give two different reasons for his injury?

 _“You fell,”_ Flash taunts. “Oh no, someone go call his parents! Oh, wait—” his words get cut off as Peter stands up in a blink and tackles him to the ground. “Coach—Coach Wilson!” Flash cries as Peter starts punching, face beet red with rage, and Coach Wilson runs over to pull him off. When he does, Peter turns immediately and starts walking toward the principal’s office, without even needing to be told.

She doesn’t know why, but she’s following him.

“Peter,” she calls down the empty hallway, but he keeps walking. “Peter!” He pauses, turning to face her.

When she approaches, she sees that his cheeks are wet, and she has to resist the urge to reach up and brush the tears off. His hands hastily wipe his eyes and he looks at her.

“What is it, Michelle?”

For once, she doesn’t know what to say. “I’m… I’m sorry Flash is such a dick.”

He nods, wiping his eyes again and blinking. “Yeah, well. Yeah.” He looks at her, waiting for her to say something else, but when she doesn’t, he keeps going. “I’m just, ah… he’s been a dick for a long time. I’m used to it.”

Her heart breaks a little.

“I don’t even remember them. My parents,” he mumbles. “And then Flash says something like that and I—” he takes a deep breath. “I just got angry. I hope I didn’t hurt him.”

Michelle gawks. “Well, if you didn’t hurt him, then I will.”

Peter smiles slightly and nods, gesturing down the hallway. “Well, I… I better go receive my sentence.”

Michelle smiles. “Go get ‘em, Spider-Man.”

He shakes his head in awe and starts walking to the principal’s office. “Thanks, MJ.”

~

“So. You got detention.” Captain America turns his chair around and sits on it backwards like a cool English teacher before carrying on with his spiel. Michelle is doodling in the back row; she glances up from her notebook and eyes everyone in the room, searching for someone to draw, before her eyes land on Peter, slumped in his chair a few desks away from her, still rubbing his wrists. She decides to use her powers for good and cheer him up with a drawing, so she sets to brainstorming before settling on the perfect idea.

Peter is drumming his pencil eraser on the surface of his desk, leg jiggling with impatience. He keeps glancing behind him at the clock. After a half hour, Michelle is finished with her drawing, so she rips it out of her notebook and waits for Coach Wilson to take a sip of his coffee before tossing it. Peter’s hand flies up to catch it before he even looks up; he looks back at her, eyebrows knit, and she motions for him to open it. He unfurls it from the ball it’s been crumpled into and stares at it for a few minutes, completely nonplussed, before gazing back at her.

She’s writing on a corner of her notebook page, once again ripping it out and chucking it at him. He catches it again and reads it.

_how did you hurt your arms?_

He stares at it for a long time, seemingly conflicted on how to answer. He takes out his pencil and scribbles a reply, tossing it in her direction while making sure Coach Wilson isn’t looking.

She opens it and there’s only one word written.

_Fell_

She narrows her eyes at him and his cheeks turn red but he stares steadily back, looking almost suspicious of her. He turns in his seat to face the front of the class and takes out his calc notebook to get some homework done, and she stares at him for a while longer. He keeps glancing back at the clock, clearly counting the minutes until he can leave for the Stark internship. After a while he gathers up his things quickly, stuffing them all into his backpack; Michelle’s drawing gets swept onto the floor in his haste and he’s halfway out the door before he freezes. He walks back over and snatches up the wrinkled paper, gazing at Michelle as he shoves it in his pocket, and hurries out the door again.

~

She’s laying sideways on her bed with her head hanging off the edge, reading her book upside down, when she gets a text.

_From: Peter Parker_

_Hey MJ, are you free to study?_

She doesn’t want it to but her heart flutters. She stares at her phone with a small grin on her face and types out a reply.

_-i guess. your house?_

_Cool, sounds good. 8?_

-👌🏽

_I’ll pick you up._

He knocks on her door at precisely eight o’clock. She knows this because she was staring at her phone waiting for the time to change. She opens the door for him and slips on her shoes, feeling his eyes on her.

“You didn’t have to pick me up, I can walk,” she says, tying up her laces.

“Yes I did, it’s dangerous,” he replies simply, picking up her backpack and attempting to put it on before he feels a light smack on his arm.

“I’m not fucking helpless, Spider-Kid, I can handle my own backpack.” She takes it, eyeing him. “Do your arms feel better?”

“What? Oh.” Peter glances down at his hands and rotates his wrists, cracking his knuckles. “Um, yeah. I’m fine.” He smiles at her. “You got everything?” She nods and they walk out the door, locking it and making their way to Peter’s apartment.

“So, this _Stark internship,_ ” Michelle starts, emphasizing the words as if she doesn’t quite believe them. “What do you _do?”_

He glances at her under the streetlights as they walk. “Oh, um. Y’know. Whatever Mr. Stark needs me to do.”

“I heard you met Spider-Man.”

He glances at her again, this time looking a bit nervous. “Yeah, once or twice. He’s a solid dude.”

She nods. “Sweet.”

They continue walking, Peter’s heart pounding, before Michelle speaks again.

“Why did you ask me to study? We don’t hang out.”

He stares at her, chuckling at her bluntness. “I, um, think you’re nice. And you were nice after what happened with Flash. So I just thought it would be…”

“Nice.”

“Yeah.” He smiles a little; they walk some more. “So, what do you think of Spider-Man?”

She considers for a moment. “He seems like a chill guy.”

He smiles wider. “Yeah, he’s… um. He was pretty cool when I met him. That one time.”

“I heard on the news the other day that he stopped a car chase with his bare hands,” she explains. “That would be so painful. But then he just swung away on his strings,” she says, miming the motion, “So I guess he’s fine.” She glances at him, eyes following down his arms, and he stuffs his hands in his pockets.

“They’re webs.”

“What?”

“They’re not strings, they’re webs,” he repeats with a blush, and suddenly they’re at the door to his apartment building. He starts up the steps. “Hence the spider.”

Eventually, Peter unlocks the door to his apartment and Michelle follows him in.

A woman with glasses and long hair looks up from the couch. Seeing an unfamiliar face, she stands up and makes her way over.

“Hello! I’m May, Peter’s aunt,” she says, shaking Michelle’s hand and smiling sweetly.

“May, this is MJ,” Peter introduces, and Michelle nods.

“Nice to meet you, May.”

“So, we’re just gonna study for a while,” Peter says to his aunt, leading Michelle into his room, which is surprisingly clean for a teenage boy. “I, uh, tidied up a little before I went and got you,” he mutters, seemingly reading her mind; she nods, shrugging off her backpack and bringing out her books and pencils.

“So, what do you want to cover first?” she asks, and when she looks up he looks quickly away, suddenly becoming very interested in the New York Mets poster on his wall.

He walks over and kneels by his backpack, shuffling through his things. “Hmmm. Chemistry?”

“Sounds like a plan.” She takes out her chemistry homework and sits on his bed. He pauses, and she looks up at him. “Oh—do you want to sit on the floor?”

“No, no, that’s fine,” he replies hastily, and sits a few feet away from her on the mattress, spreading out his homework between them.

“Okay, well I have trouble with bond angles, do you want to start with that?”

~

Chemistry homework complete, they return the papers to their backpacks.

“What next?” Peter asks, looking through his things again while Michelle does the same.

“How about anatomy?”

He nods. “The skeleton test is coming up.”

~

“Okay. Humerus, radius, ulna,” she lists as she goes down her arm. “Carpals, metacarpals, phalanges.” She goes up to her shoulder and then down the middle of her chest. “Scapula, clavicle, manubrium, sternum, xyphoid process.”

“Nice,” Peter says, taking over. “Seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic, five lumbar. Sacrum, coccyx, pelvis, femur, fibula, tibia.”

“We’re gonna slay this skeleton test,” Michelle says confidently, looking down and noticing how close together they are on Peter’s bed, and he seems to have noticed too. His eyes are flitting between hers, a blush creeping up his cheeks, and she turns away, her own face bright red. “Okay, it’s probably late,” she mumbles.

“Yeah,” Peter agrees dreamily, before processing what she said. He shakes his head slightly. “Yeah. I’ll walk you home.”

“Pete, you really don’t have to—”

“MJ, I’ll walk you home.”

~

They’re standing at her front door silently, both looking at their feet. He talks first.

“That was—”

“Nice.”

He blushes. “Yeah. So, um, maybe we can…”

She nods. “Yeah. That sounds nice.”

He grins. “Okay. I’ll, um…”

“See you later, Spider-Boy.”

He blushes harder and she unlocks her door.

“See you later, MJ.”

She closes the door behind her and listens to his footsteps retreat down her front steps, and then she realizes.

Oh my god.

He’s the Spider-Man.

~

“Hey, Ned. Hey, Spidey.”

Peter and Ned both look at her with wide eyes and Ned glances around at the other lunch tables, making sure no one heard her. He leans in and is about to whisper something when Peter stomps on his foot under the table, shaking his head ever so slightly.

Michelle inwardly applauds herself and begins eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “So, Ned,” she starts, ignoring hem while they exchange worried glances, “I’ve noticed the team is really behind on complex logarithms. Stuyvesant is crazy advanced in that field so I’m gonna set aside an entire week for it.” Ned stares at her blankly, still reeling from Peter’s nickname, and nods at her words.

“Yeah. Okay—sounds like a plan, Michelle.”

“Y’know, MJ,” Peter tries, “I got a ninety-six on the logarithm unit test, maybe I could—”

“Aren’t you a little busy, Pete?” She interrupts casually, taking a long swig from her chocolate milk carton. “With the internship?”

“Well—yeah, but I’m sure I could—”

“I couldn’t ask you to take time away from the important work you do,” she insists, taking another chomp from her sandwich. Peter stares down at his food tray and shovels a spoonful of corn into his mouth. “What did you say you do for Stark, again?”

He chews his corn slowly and swallows. “I just—not much, really.”

She quirks her eyebrows. “Really? I mean, you work for him basically full time, right?”

He nods hesitantly.

“Pete, I think you should be proud of your important role in Stark Industries. Y’know, brag a little more.” He takes another spoonful of corn into his mouth and Michelle stands. “Hey, everyone! Peter has something—”

Peter spits out some corn kernels in his attempt to pull her back into her seat. A few students in their vicinity peer at them curiously.

“He’s just…” Ned swallows thickly. “He’s very humble.” Peter nods vigorously, looking between his best friend and Michelle. “He doesn’t like to talk about his achievements.”

“Yeah,” Peter agrees, still nodding. “Humble. Really… really humble.”

“Would ya look at the time,” Michelle states, standing back up. “I need to get to computer lab. See ya, Ned. Bye, Spider-Man.”

As she walks away, she overhears Ned’s frantic whispering. “Does she know? Dude, I think she knows.”

~

_-hey loser do you wanna study_

Despite agreeing to study together more often, Peter hasn’t asked her about it since that first night, so Michelle’s decided to take the reigns. After all, it’s just homework. Not a big deal. Her phone buzzes and she almost drops it.

_From: Spidey_

_Sorry, MJ, the internship is gonna go late tonight. Another time?_

_-no prob_

It carries on like this for weeks. She doesn’t text him often—she’s not obsessed with him—but when she does it’s always the same answer. Stark internship.

_-how about a good ol fashioned study sesh_

_I wish, but I’m at the Stark internship. :/_

It’s very kind of him to pretend to dislike being Spider-Man just for her; she’s struck with inspiration and begins typing.

_-my parents arent home_

It takes about ten minutes for him to text back; she can see the little bubble on her screen that shows he’s typing something. It disappears and reappears multiple times as he changes his mind about how to respond.

_From: Spidey_

_Mr. Stark says I can leave in an hour, I’ll bring my logarithm notes._

She cackles to herself as she reads his text and kicks her legs up in the air before flipping over on her bed and burying her nose back in her book.

About an hour and a half later, she hears a knock on the front door.

“Mom, can you get it?”

She hears her mom stand up from the couch in the living room and open the door. Michelle presses her ear against her own door to listen.

“Oh—oh, hi, Mrs. Jones, is, is um, MJ here?”

She opens her door theatrically and gestures Peter inside, whose face is a very satisfying shade of red. She calls a thank you to her mom and shuts the door decisively.

“You thirsty bastard!” she teases, running over and jumping on her bed while his blush intensifies. He sheepishly shrugs his backpack off and sits at her desk, burying his face in his hands.

“Why did you do that?” he asks, voice higher than usual.

She cackles again. “Because you’ve been using the Stark internship to avoid me for weeks! And I was bored and I wanted to hang out with you. And I need help with logarithms.”

“Well, you could have asked without calling me out like that,” Peter argues, blush still present on his cheeks as he finally looks at her.

“Oh, come on, I’m sure you can take a break from crime fighting for one…” she trails off. Shit. His mouth drops open and he stares at her for a few seconds before trying to recover.

“What—what are you… I was at the Stark internship, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Well, she might as well own it. “C’mon, Peter. I know.”

His face drops and he looks down at his hands. “How long have you known?”

“A month or so.”

He looks back up at her, thinking for a moment. “So when you started calling me Spider-Man and Spider-Boy and Spidey… you didn’t even know yet?”

She grins. “Aren’t I something?”

He smiles weakly and nods. “You… you sure are something.”

“So, do you like… lay eggs or anything?”

He leans back in her chair. “Why does everyone ask that?”

“Well, do you?”

“No! I don’t lay eggs,” he says, voice getting quieter as his sentence goes on. He glances at the door nervously.

“Did Tony Stark, like… experiment on you or something?”

He shakes his head. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I…” He glances at the door again. “I got bitten by a spider.”

“Bitch, me too! The fuck,” Michelle laughs, and Peter joins her this time, shaking his head again.

“No, it was…” he tries, but he starts laughing again. “Y’know what, just ask Ned, he knows everything and he likes talking about it more than I do.”

She nods, fits of giggles still taking over occasionally, and she can feel Peter’s eyes on her again.

“I really like you, MJ.”

A blush takes over her cheeks and she smiles, meeting Peter’s gaze. He stands up slowly and makes his way over to her, sitting next to her on her bed. His cheeks are just as red as hers and he cradles her face in his hand, looking down at her lips, before she closes the distance between them. His thumb caresses her cheek as his lips move against hers, and after a few seconds she pulls away with a smile, glancing down at her text book lying on the floor.

“Y’know, Pete, I… I actually do need help with logarithms."


End file.
